Old Man Quill Finally Reveals the Tragic Fate of the Guardians of the Galaxy

Old Man Quill brought fans back to the Wastelands after the age of heroes has come to an end, all except for one that is. That would be Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, and in the series, we've seen him and the Guardians attempt to track down a way to turn the tide. Drax, Gamora, Mantis, and Rocket Raccoon gathered once more to break into the Universal Church's headquarters, but as we learned at the end of the last issue, not everything has been as it seemed, and Star-Lord truly is the last superhero left. That means the Guardians are dead, and we finally learn how things played out in that secret message Star-Lord has avoided all this time.

Gladiator breaks the news to Quill, and then Quill's memories start spilling in. He remembers watching the video message the team sent to him, and the issue fills in the blanks on what happened leading up to that video. The team reunites to break into the Universal Church's secret facility, and we learn that the goal was to break the Silver Surfer free. Unfortunately, the Surfer has seen better days.

The Surfer is hooked up to a large machine and looks like a shell of his former self, and Mantis connects with him on the mental plane. That's when Surfer tells her he is not their beacon of hope, and that he was defeated by Galactus long ago. Galactus is siphoning off the power cosmic from Surfer and is passing on that power to the Universal Church.

He does tell her about the Ultimate Nullifier, however, and that is still on Earth. Unfortunately, their conversation comes to an end when the Church's army storms the room, which is now made up of the Shiar guard. Rocket attempts to download the rest of the data from the computer system while the other Guardians hold the Guard off, as the plans in the system show the Baxter Building and where to find the Nullifier.

The Guardians download it but soon realize they won't get out of this alive. Drax sacrifices himself to hold them off but eventually is overwhelmed. Rocket can't get a message through to Quill on Spartax through their jammers, so they record a video message and get it to the Milano, which they will send to Spartax. As we watch the video, Gladioatr incinerates Mantis next, and Gamora tells the Quill on the video that he's their last hope of stopping Galactus, who is headed for Earth next.

The Milano makes it off and towards Quill, and the next page shows Quill watching the video. We then see Rocket talking to him and telling him not to screw this up while Gamora fights on in the background. She then says "we're out of time! Hit transmit--" and then Rocket is disintegrated in front of her. We never see what happens to Gamora, but odds are she experienced the same fate.

Though since we don't see it happen, perhaps she is alive after all...guess we'll have to wait and see. You can check out all the spoiler images above.

For those unfamiliar with Old Man Quill, you can check out the official description for the first issue below, which is written by Ethan Sacks and drawn by Robert Gill.

"THE FAR-FLUNG SAGA OF THE ONCE AND FUTURE STAR-LORD BEGINS! Meet Peter Quill. He used to be Star-Lord – you know, the legendary outlaw – but it's been quite some time since he's gone by that name. Taking over for his father as the Emperor of Spartax, Quill put the life of spacefaring adventure behind him for one of leadership and responsibility. Quill grew up. But things didn't go as planned. Decades have passed, and Peter is haunted by tragedy. Down and out, Quill's existence means nothing…until the former GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY drag Peter out of his funk for one last mission! The heist of a lifetime – and Quill's harrowing quest for redemption – begins here!"

You can find the official description of the current issue below.

"THE FATE OF THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY! The fallout from issue #7 takes the quest in an unexpected direction! The GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY face their final mission! And what is the secret message Peter Quill would rather forget?"

Old Man Quill #8 is in comic stores now.

What did you think of the reveal? Let us know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MattAguilarCB for all things comics!